Just to satiate my curiosity about just what caused my 3DS to mess up in the first place, I came across this thread on a DIY repair site that sums up just what the problem was and some of the work involved in fixing it.
Don't think I'd be capable of trying any of that out without causing some major damage to my system and potentially lose my downloaded stuff, so getting a new system was probably the better, though way more expensive option.
That being said, the New 3DS is pretty sweet. The system transfer process was a little bumpy due to my poor net connection and a few mistakes on my part, but everything seems to have transferred over without a problem.
Glad you got it all sorted out. I'm very lucky in never having to replace a system.
The only other time I've had to replace a system was a GameCube, but that was my fault for messing with the optical drive under the mistaken assupmtion that I was cleaning it.
I like the New 3DS too. If you use 3D, you'll notice the head tracking is A LOT better, and the 3D is a lot more stable.
I messed around with it a bit and yeah, it's a huge improvement over the 3D effect of the original 3DS.
After reading through what people wrote it seems like a pretty easy fix, the only problem is getting the ribbons back in order. Did you get a new 3DS? If you did congrats! Once you got all your info off the old 3DS you could wipe the old 3DS, and sell it. Maybe you can get some of your cash back for buying a new one.